This morning the Council of Ministers approved the European
Parliament’s amendments on the Eurovignette Directive and thus finalised
the new European road charging regime. The new Directive will enter into force
following its publication in the Official Journal. This legislation will
encourage Member States to introduce and develop tolls and charges which will
make it possible to improve the management of commercial freight traffic, reduce
pollution and generate funds for investment in new transport infrastructure.
“I welcome the adoption of the Directive which has been the subject of
tough discussions between the Member States and Parliament. With the possibility
of differential tolling and introducing toll “mark-ups”, this new
framework represents a major step towards fairer and more efficient transport
infrastructure charging”, said Commission Vice-President
Jacques Barrot, who is responsible for transport policy.

The text amends the 1999 “Eurovignette”
Directive,[1] which provides a
framework for the levying of tolls and user charges on Europe’s motorways.
The aim of the Commission’s 2003 proposal was to increase the
efficiency of the operation of Europe’s roads. With the new charging
framework, transport users will gradually assume responsibility for the costs
generated by their activities, the aim being to reduce pollution and congestion
and generate additional funding for investment in transport infrastructure.

The scope of the new road charging Directive is broader. It lays down
rules for tolls or user charges on the trans-European network, whereas the
existing Directive limited tolls and charges to motorways. It allows Member
States to levy tolls and user charges on all other roads as well. The Directive
applies to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, rather than only to vehicles over
12 tonnes as at present.

The new Directive represents the first step towards taking account of
external costs: it will allow a greater variation in tolls to reflect
congestion, and toll variations to reflect the pollution caused by vehicles will
be mandatory from 2010. It also makes provision for Member States to be able to
increase tolls with a “mark-up” on roads in particularly sensitive
mountainous regions. The income from these mark–ups must be used to fund
alternative transport infrastructure.

The new Directive also establishes the principles for calculating tolls and
limits frequent user discounts, to ensure that they are fair, proportionate,
transparent and non-discriminatory. These improvements will reduce obstacles to
the free movement of goods and guarantee fair competition between road haulage
operators.

The Member States will be required to incorporate this Directive into
national law within two years. For further details see IP/05/1614.

[1] European Parliament and
Council Directive 1999/62/EC of 17 June 1999 on the charging of heavy
goods vehicles of the use of certain infrastructures - Official Journal
No L 187 of 20 July 1999.